TISS Loses Close Game to Crestwood High School in 2015 National Capital Bowl Football Championship

By Mark Calder

(Carleton Place) – It was so close Saturday for the Thousand Islands Secondary School Pirates (TISS).

But
a failed trick play in the dying minutes of the 2015 National Capital
Bowl AA final left the team with a 27-21 loss to the Crestwood High
School Mustangs at Beckwith Field. The play saw Pirates’ quarterback
Nick Gilbert reverse the ball to receiver Ty McNish, who returned it to
Gilbert, who then sent a 40-yard pass to Mitchell Hoogenraad to advance
the ball to the Crestwood two yard line. Unfortunately, the play was
called back, and the Pirates were penalized five yards for an illegal
forward pass, prompting TISS to punt the ball in hopes they could
contain their Peterborough-area opponents and regain field position for a
final drive. Unfortunately, Crestwood was able to maintain possession
and run out the clock.

While he felt the loss, TISS Coach Rick Miles kept things in perspective, adding he was proud of his team’s effort.

“This
has been the best loss I’ve ever had,” said Miles. “The kids played so
hard and so well that it didn’t overwhelm me. They did everything we
asked of them and did it to the best of their abilities. I don’t think
there was a kid out there who took a play off. They were giving it 200
per cent.

“And they were going up against (Crestwood) players who
had 30 or more pounds on them. And these weren’t just big kids who
couldn’t move, they were athletic kids.

“I was rnoved at how physical our kids were playing.”

Miles
said the size of the Crestwood team stymied the Pirates’ running game,
but encouraged some spectacular passing plays by the Pirates’ offence.
For instance, TISS posted its first points of the game when Gilbert fed
McNish a pass for a 67-yard touchdown on the very first play. The second
touchdown came on a 40-yard pass from Gilbert to slotback Nick
Westendorp, while TISS’s third touchdown came off two passing plays
started at Crestwood’s 40-yard line and finished with wide receiver
Payden Selleck in the end zone.